Federal Clearinghouse on school safety best practices

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act provided an unprecedented investment in America’s preschool through 12th-grade (PreK-12) schools to help them safely reopen and remain open for in-person learning and to provide the academic, mental health, and social and emotional support that students, educators, and schools need to recover from the pandemic.

ARP included $122 billion for PreK-12 schools in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) funds, as well as an additional $8 billion to States and school districts to meet the needs of certain student populations, including over $3 billion for students with disabilities and $800 million for children and youth experiencing homelessness.

Across the country, we are already seeing the significant impact ARP has on schools and communities. Since its passage, States, school districts, and schools have used these funds to safely reopen and sustain in-person instruction, support academic learning, and address students’ mental health needs. To help deploy funds strategically, States and school districts have been engaging with their communities — including parents, families, community groups, and educators — to develop the best plan for their schools.

To learn more about the promising practices helping students across the country, keep scrolling!

Reopening Safely

Safe and Healthy Environments

Learn about school, early childhood program, and campus approaches to implementing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as other strategies for sustaining safe in-person operations with ARP funds.

Student Supports

Providing Supports to Students, Young Children, and Families

Learn how communities and schools are using ARP funds to support the social, emotional, mental health, academic, developmental, and basic needs of all learners, including access to food and other basic needs, with a specific focus on the most vulnerable learners and ensuring that resources provided by schools and campuses will be able to connect with and meet the needs of those disconnected from learning and those whose communities have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Educator Supports

Teacher, Early Childhood Provider, Faculty, and Staff Well-Being, Professional Development, and Supports

Learn how to better address the well-being and professional needs of teachers, early childhood providers, faculty, and staff, including strategies to address their social, emotional, health, and other needs, with ARP funds. Teachers, early childhood education providers, faculty, staff, schools, districts, institutions of higher education, other places of educational instruction, and States may use these lessons learned, best practices, and Federal resources to create plans of action.

Our Mission

To develop, maintain, and continually enhance a Safer Schools and Campuses Best Practices Clearinghouse, per Executive Order (E.O.) 14000 issued by President Biden, that provides collections of lessons from the field in support of students, young children, families, teachers, early childhood providers, faculty, and staff, as schools, early childhood programs, and campuses continue to reopen following closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This collection of lessons learned and best practices provides resources to identify and support the needs of all students, and particularly historically disadvantaged students, to ensure that all have access to a high-quality education.

Spotlight: Community School Efforts in Boston and Batesville

This session from the National Public Education Support Fund explored how two school districts leveraged American Rescue Plan funds to enhance their community schools initiatives, as a means of providing comprehensive resources and supports to meet students’ holistic needs.

Spotlight: Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten Visits #ARPStars in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

See how Pennsylvania and New Jersey schools are using relief funding, including ARP funding, to create a more equitable future and keep students safe, engaged, and focused in their classrooms.

Spotlight: Highline Public Schools, Washington

Highline Public Schools are a perfect example of #ARPStars in action! Their work to provide social and mental wellness support both in-person and online using ARP funds is a model of what it looks like to #BuildBackBetter.

An illustration of a the state of Arkansas behind a bridge and an apple within a blue circle.

Implementation Stories

Arkansas Department of Education: Arkansas Tutoring Corps

Using American Rescue Plan funds, the Arkansas Department of Education created the Arkansas Tutoring Corps, which includes recruitment, preparation, and support for candidates to become qualified tutors to provide instruction for students most impacted by lost instructional time.

The Arkansas Tutoring Corps project will enhance learning experiences of students impacted by lost instructional time as a result of the pandemic and address gaps in foundational skills in mathematics and literacy. #ARPStars

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Innovative Spotlight

National Comprehensive Center: The American Rescue Plan Act Partnership, Assistance, Transformation, and Heightened Support Resource for States (ARP PATHS)

ARP PATHS invites states to voluntarily describe the strategies they are implementing to serve as promising practices in ensuring ARP ESSER funds are used appropriately and effectively. The tool offers considerations for states as they build capacity and communicate their work to the public.

Topics addressed by the tool include implementing strategies to support safe in-person instruction, incorporating ongoing engagement with parents and other stakeholders, addressing learning loss, meeting urgent staffing needs, and ensuring transparency.

Federal, State & Local Resources

Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) Announces 79 Districts Intend to Participate in TN ALL Corps Tutoring

Learn about TDOE’s use of relief funds to support the Tennessee Accelerating Literacy and Learning Corps (TN ALL Corps) tutoring program to mitigate learning loss and accelerate student achievement.

Participating districts and the TDOE will invest a projected $200 million in Federal education funding in TN ALL Corps, benefiting nearly 150,000 students over the next three years. #ARPStars